CrossFit Trivia
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This CrossFit trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the whole world of the sport of fitness: how Greg Glassman went from a Santa Cruz garage gym to the biggest fitness chain on earth, what a WOD, a box and Rx'd actually mean, the stories behind benchmark workouts like Fran and Murph, and the CrossFit Games from a ranch in Aromas to arenas in Madison and Fort Worth. There are questions on the champions too: Rich Froning, Mat Fraser, Tia-Clair Toomey, the Icelandic 'Dottirs' and the years they won. It works as a warm-up game for a box's social night, a Murph Day fundraiser or anyone who wants to check how well they know the sport beyond the barbell. Difficulty ranges from questions any member could answer to hard ones about affiliate numbers and prize money. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia and cited on the question, so you can see where each fact comes from.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who founded CrossFit, incorporating the company in 2000 with Lauren Jenai?
Greg Glassman
Glassman, a former gymnast, is said to have invented his first CrossFit-style workout at 16 by adding weights to gymnastics.
Q 02In which California city was the original CrossFit gym located?
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz: Glassman's gym there was the original CrossFit location, and posting its daily workouts online turned a local operation into a worldwide method.
Q 03What is a CrossFit-affiliated gym commonly called?
A box
A box: affiliates take the name from the bare warehouse spaces early gyms used. The first affiliate, CrossFit North, opened in Seattle in 2002.
Q 04What does WOD stand for?
Workout of the Day
CrossFit has posted a free daily WOD for the public since 2001.
Q 05The benchmark WOD Fran combines pull-ups with which movement, in rounds of 21, 15 and 9 reps?
Thrusters
A thruster is a front squat flowing straight into a push press.
Q 06Benchmark workouts such as Fran, Grace and Helen belong to which named group?
The Girls
The Girls: Fran, Grace and Helen belong to the benchmark workouts CrossFit began giving women's names in 2003. Murph, by contrast, is a Hero workout named for a fallen Navy SEAL.
Q 07When a WOD is done exactly as written, without scaling, what is it called?
Rx'd
Rx'd, from the prescription symbol Rx, means the workout was done as prescribed. Reducing reps or weights or swapping movements to fit the athlete is called scaling.
Q 08Which momentum-based pull-up technique is common in CrossFit and controversial outside it?
Kipping
Kipping uses a hip-driven swing to add momentum to each pull-up, letting athletes string together far more reps; critics outside CrossFit call it cheating and say it stresses the shoulders.
Q 09The three CrossFit modalities are gymnastics, barbell lifting and what?
Metabolic conditioning
Metabolic conditioning, or 'metcon', covers running, rowing, cycling and double-unders; CrossFit's Level 1 guide lists it beside gymnastics and weightlifting as the three modalities.
Q 10Helen is three rounds of a 400 m run, 12 pull-ups and 21 swings of what?
A kettlebell
A kettlebell: Helen is three rounds of a 400-metre run, 21 kettlebell swings at 24 kg (53 lb) for men and 12 pull-ups, for time.
Q 11The benchmark Karen is 150 reps of which movement, for time?
Wall-ball shots
Wall-ball shots: Karen is 150 wall-ball shots for time, throwing a 20 lb ball (14 lb for women) to a 10-foot target from a full squat.
Q 12How many affiliated gyms did CrossFit have in 2005?
13
13: CrossFit had just 13 affiliated gyms in 2005, three years after the first affiliate opened in Seattle; the number grew into the thousands within a decade.
Q 13To whom did CrossFit's founder sell the company in 2020 after his George Floyd comments?
Eric Roza
Eric Roza, a former Datalogix CEO, bought CrossFit in July 2020 after Glassman's tweet about George Floyd triggered an exodus of affiliates and sponsors.
Q 21The first CrossFit Games took place at a ranch in which California town?
Aromas
Aromas: the first Games in 2007 were held on a family ranch there, and the finals returned to the ranch in 2020, when the pandemic ruled out spectators.
Q 22What title does the CrossFit Games champion receive?
Fittest on Earth
Fittest on Earth: the Games crown their individual champions with the title, on the argument that a test spanning lifting, gymnastics and endurance measures fitness better than any single sport.
Q 23How much prize money did the winners of the inaugural 2007 Games receive?
$500
$500: the inaugural 2007 Games paid $500 to each winner. By 2011 a title sponsorship had pushed first prize to $250,000, and it reached $300,000 by 2019.
Q 14Which dangerous muscle-breakdown condition has the press long linked to CrossFit's intensity?
Rhabdomyolysis
Rhabdomyolysis: damaged muscle fibres release myoglobin and other proteins that can overwhelm the kidneys, and several highly publicised cases followed intense CrossFit workouts.
Q 15Which gymnastics movement pairs with deadlifts in the benchmark Diane?
Handstand push-ups
Handstand push-ups: Diane is 21-15-9 reps of deadlifts at 225 lb (155 lb for women) and handstand push-ups, for time.
Q 16The Hero WOD Murph honours a Navy SEAL killed in 2005 in which country?
Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Lt. Michael Murphy was killed in Kunar Province on 28 June 2005 during Operation Red Wings and posthumously received the Medal of Honor.
Q 17Murph is a mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, how many air squats and another mile?
300
300 air squats: Murph is a mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and a second mile, ideally in a 20 lb weight vest. Murphy called his version 'Body Armor'.
Q 18Fight Gone Bad was built in 2004 to mimic a three-round bout for which UFC fighter?
BJ Penn
BJ Penn: Glassman designed the five-station workout for Penn, who said afterwards it felt like 'a fight gone bad', giving it its name.
Q 19What does AMRAP stand for in CrossFit programming?
As many rounds as possible
As many rounds as possible: an AMRAP sets a time cap, such as Cindy's 20 minutes, and scores the athlete on completed rounds and reps.
Q 20In what year were the first CrossFit Games held?
2007
2007: the first CrossFit Games were held that July on a family ranch in California, and for the first two years anyone who turned up could compete.
Q 24Which sportswear brand sponsored the CrossFit Games from 2011 to 2020?
Reebok
Reebok became title sponsor in 2011 with a ten-year deal that ended after 2020; the partnership put the Reebok name on the Games and its Nano shoe on athletes' feet.
Q 25From 2010 to 2016 the Games were held at the Home Depot Center in which California city?
Carson
Carson: the Home Depot Center, later the StubHub Center, hosted the Games from 2010 to 2016, before the event moved to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2017.
Q 26Which city hosted the 2024 CrossFit Games?
Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas hosted the 2024 Games at Dickies Arena; the event was overshadowed by a competitor's death during the opening swim in Marine Creek Lake.
Q 27The Open, the Games' first qualifying stage, was introduced in which year?
2011
2011: the first Open drew about 26,000 athletes competing online in weekly workouts, replacing the previous year's sectionals as the first qualifying stage.
Q 28How many athletes signed up for the Open at its 2018 peak?
415,000
415,000 athletes registered for the 2018 Open, its all-time peak; that year's Open ran one new workout a week for five weeks.
Q 29Who created and directed the CrossFit Games until being dismissed in 2022?
Dave Castro
He returned in 2023 as leader of the sport team.
Q 30Which man was the first to win the Games four times, taking the title from 2011 to 2014?
Rich Froning
Rich Froning won four straight individual titles from 2011 to 2014, then switched to the team event and led CrossFit Mayhem to six team titles between 2015 and 2022.